She was always tempering my expectations of myself, reminding me that just because something could technically be done better didn’t necessarily mean it had to be—and that in fact, doing it poorly might be allowing something else to be done better. You can waste a lot of energy trying to live up to a technical standard, or busy your soul with shame... See more

Years ago at Man Repeller, we interviewed a woman (sorry I can’t remember her name) who told us that the only way to get everything she wanted was to purposely let some balls drop in her life.

I can picture telling my former (favorite) therapist about them, frustrated with their insufficiency, and her shrugging and saying, “Sounds like they’re working for you!”